


Epistemology

by Slant



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Book: The Silver Chair, Camus - Freeform, Epistemology, Existentialism, Gen, Philosophy, Sartre
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 13:50:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3413003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slant/pseuds/Slant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Lady of the Green Kirtle doesn't see any evidence for "sun". Our heroes don't perceive any convincing evidence for <i>anything</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epistemology

"I have 'seen' a 'lamp'." Eustace was gravid with contempt. "Someone positing a naïve belief in the actuality of 'objects' supported by the so-called 'evidence' of one's own senses has the temerity to lecture me on epistemology." Eustace had read a very great number of the wrong sort of books. 

"Yes," agreed Jill, experiencing the anguish of existence instead of enchantment, "Belief in external reality is Absurd, no serious thinking being indulges in _that_."  
"I," she continued, "actualise my radical freedom by choosing to act as if I believed in the existence of external reality as I perceive it and as I recall perceiving it, whilst always remembering that to do so is, like any other choice, Absurd."

Puddleglum looked embarrassed. "Um actually, I was going to say something about believing in Aslan in the absence of any evidence."

"Oh sorry Puddleglum, I didn't meant to imply that your philosophical paradigm is frivolous, and of course you have the radical freedom to adopt any position. Um, I think it was Lev Shestov who suggested a philosophical leap into the arms of Deity as an answer to the problem of suicide." Jill smiled awkwardly; she had never really had much time for what had always struck her as a incoherent set of arguments. 

Puddleglum rallied and said "It is not a position lacking courage, for one must not suppose that the godhead is in any way knowable. Indeed, it is more than likely that, should it exist, it would appear hateful or incomprehensible." 

"There's certainly better epistemological footing for belief in Aslan within the philosophical requirements of Puddleglum's paradigm than there is for 'lamps' in mine." 

Having satisfied themselves on the underlying philosophical question of whether 'things' were something they were willing to consider, they turned back to the Green Lady. 

"I say," said Scrubb, "She's turned into a snake."  
"I mean," he back-pedalled, "that I currently perceive her as being a snake, and that I have memories of perceiving her differently. I'm not sure we can trust any of these processes."  
"For what it is worth, I am currently expressing that I remember the same sequence of sensory experiences," said Puddleglum.

"Radical Freedom!" yelled Pole, and punched her in the quadrate.

**Author's Note:**

> The bit about god being hateful and incomprehensible is from Camus's summary of Shestov's "Leap" in Myth of Sisyphus. Any resemblance to the lion is entirely Lewis's choice. 
> 
> Yelling "Radical Freedom!" is Existential Comics'!Jean-Paul Sartre's running gag.
> 
> The quadrate is the extra bone in a snake's jaw.


End file.
